The Second's Lament Walking to Paris
by Whynoteh
Summary: Marinette finds herself miles out from home without her phone, barefoot, and lost during a autumn evening. Cat Noir finds her and promises to get her back to Paris. But not all is good and fluff, and the children have to learn how to play nice before the fun of adventure comes into play. A one shot unless more is really requested.


"Well then..."

Marinette tapped her chin as she took in her situation.

"Hmm..."

The sun was closing in to the horizon, not that she could see from where she stood on the road, a wall of tall browned ferns on her left, and a wall of yellow and red trees on her right. The country road, fortunately freshly paved and covered in freshly fallen leaves, was cold under her bare feet, and the autumn wind raised the hairs on her equally bare arms.

"So... I didn't think this through, Tikki."

"How's that, Marinette?" chirped the little red kwami.

The girl itched just below one of her pigtails. "If I wanted to be alone out some thirty kilometers out from Paris on a country road in my pajamas without my phone or any money or any food to feed you, if I had planned to do that..." she nodded to herself, "I'd say I did pretty good, good plan..." a sigh, "but I kinda didn't, so, yeah..." She clicked her tongue against her cheek. "Yay me."

Tikki floated up to her ward's face, a tiny amorphous arm petting the teenager. "I hate to say it Marinette, but sometimes these things happen."

"Yeah?"

"Yes, and the only thing you can do is to make the best of it and learn from your mistakes."

"Yeah? What if I get eaten by a deer, or a wolf? It'd be a little hard to learn then." The girl was managing to stay somewhat flippant, her usual panicky tendencies getting overwritten by sheer awe of how she managed to get to this situation. Also the scent of fallen leaves was pleasant.

The kwami floated back a little and shook her head disapprovingly. "Only one of those options is really possible, so try to avoid that one."

"Huh, somehow you telling me that didn't make me feel better. Let's try that again, just without the part where I get eaten by wolves."

Tikki pouted. "Marinette."

"I'm sorry Tikki, you're right..." guilt built up in her gut. Giving her kwami sass was not something becoming of ladybug.

"Marinette!" Tikki chirped.

"What!?" Marinette answered, slightly annoyed now.

She noticed however a reflection moving in her kwami's eyes, and looked up and behind her. Cat Noir was pole vaulting straight for Marinette, landing at knee breaking speeds just a few steps away from her. Tikki was quick to hide in the teenager's clothes.

"Princess..." Cat Noir bowed before Marinette, one hand to his heart and the other outdrawn as he tried his hardest to speak in verbal italics. "Where's the villain? I wouldn't be a very good hero if I left a lady like yourself in danger of bad guys..."

Marinette understood that this kind of approach would be plenty comforting for a regular person, but as the one who more often than not was the one saving him, she felt sick inside any time he flirted with her with talks of heroism and protection. He was endearing, but boy was it grating nonetheless.

"Ladybug already de-evilized him, she went home. You're late."

Cat Noir seemed to freeze for a dozen or so seconds, glazed over eyes blinking at Marinette in contemplation.

"Are you sure?"

She took a small step back. "Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?"

He held out a finger, then touched it to his nose, then his chin. "Why would she leave you out here? Why are you here? Wait..."

The heat of panic finally spread throughout the girl's body, this did not look good for her. "Uhm, well, you see... uh, well, the akuma guy, he uh, kidnapped me, and uhm... Ladybug said she didn't have any time, so, uh, the guy went home just down the road, and uh, she said... good luck?"

He was about to speak, but stopped. Then he tried again. "You don't sound too sure, was that a question? Anyway, Ladybug... left you stranded...out here? I'm sorry, I'm just finding this hard to believe."

A lightbulb went off. "She said... that you would be here to help me out! Yes," she shot him with two finger guns, her fluttering hands hard at work to keep his eyes off of her nerve wracked face. "Yes, wow, I'm honored, it's a girl's dream come true to be saved by Cat Noir!" Marinette wondered if the hardy 'we can do it!' arm swing may have been inappropriate, perhaps too much.

"No worries my Princess, it's my honor to save one such as yourself." He held out his hand, that same reliable hand that Marinette and Ladybug had taken many times before, so she took it once more without hesitation. That didn't stop the brief moment of being flustered when Cat Noir scooped her up into a bridal carry however. It was just a moment though, and that's all she needed to tell herself.

One end of his extendable pole hit the ground and they started lifting off into the air, yet this time they didn't get very far.

"Cold! Cold! Put me down!" she shrieked as she clamped herself around his torso, choking him in the process.

"Ok ok ok ok ok okokokok!" the boy wheezed, dropping them both back down to earth. Setting her down gently to give her the chance to unhook herself, he then retracted his pole completely and opened it up to a GPS screen. "If we're not vaulting, I guess we're walking." A couple buttons presses later and he looked down both ends of the road, green eyes blinking in thought. "It seems we're on D96, 77610, so I think we should go that way," he said as he gestured north. Putting away his pole, he closed his eyes as he eased into his smarmy attitude he took on around Marinette. "It may take a little while to find a bus stop, but I'm sure spending time with a Parisian hero isn't the worst way to spend an afternoon..." getting into his swagger, the boy grabbed his belt tail and began twirling it around as he started walking on. "And don't you worry, I'll make sure no harm comes to-"

Wait a minute.

As he opened his eyes, he could've sworn he saw something... off.

Marinette was smiling at him, and had her hands behind her back but... he definitely saw her hands _fly_ behind her back, and she was definitely looking somewhere else. Thinking harder about it, he could've sworn she had been rolling her eyes, and her hands were flapping... mockingly?

"Huh." He started walking in silence. The boy chewed his tongue as he looked at the ground.

Marinette followed, his abrupt silence worrying her. "Cat? You okay?" she said after a minute of silence.

A chuckle. "I'm sorry," he answered, slowing down so she came shoulder to shoulder with him, "I just forgot that... you're a funny girl Marinette."

She squinted. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm as sharp as a cat, remember? So I take it you don't prefer my charming side then?"

A lie was in the works already, but Marinette paused as she looked down the seemingly endless road. They were going to be walking for a long time, and with no rush, there were no excuses and nowhere to run. Maybe honesty would pay off in the end?

"I wouldn't exactly call it your charming side, Cat Noir..." she giggled as she bumped his arm. "We may have been bummed out that one time with the ice cream man, but I prefer the more honest Cat Noir." He smiled in turn.

They walked for what felt like a while, but as many know time to do, time spent doing nothing passes slowest. What felt like half an hour was only all of five minutes. Quickly and expectedly, they became bored.

"Why do they call them pigtails?" she asked, breaking the dull quiet.

"What?" he slowly mumbled back, hands resting behind his head.

She touched one of her pigtails, bouncing it as she repeated, "Why are they called pigtails? Pigtails are curly, and they only have one, so why do they call it that?"

"Sailors coined the term because of how tobacco was twisted so it could dry back in the 1700's, and I assume they then used it to describe curly hair in double ponytails? I'm not sure on the details."

Marinette turned her head to the boy. "Really? How do you know that?"

He looked a little defensive for a moment. "I don't know what you want me to do princess, I can't exactly prove that that's what they did-"

"No, I mean, where did you learn it, do you have a lot of that sort of trivia in mind or... is that just something you remember?"

"Oh, well now I'm offended by the notion that you think all I have going for me is good looks; I can be smart too you know," he stated proudly, flashing a pearly white smile.

A giggle. "I guess I never thought about it like that..."

"Wow," he started laughing, "I hope the faith you have in me isn't the standard for everyone else, otherwise I might have to make a point or something."

She giggled harder, "No, you silly, I didn't mean it like that." Both her hands went behind her head too, but she did so to undo her pigtails and let her hair fall down to her shoulders.

Cat Noir immediately took notice. "What's that about?"

"Hmm?" She observed where his eyes were focused on, and once more became briefly self conscious. "Oh, it's getting chilly, and my hair can, you know, keep my neck a little warmer."

"Well, when we get to a town, I'll see what I can do about that."

"Thank you."

"No problem, princess."

"Three x plus seven equals twenty-two, solve for x."

"Five, why?" he answered instantly.

She took a few moments longer to solve her own problem. "Oh, that came out nicely, and, not bad Cat."

"Were you testing me?" he smirked.

"Maybe."

"You're faith in me is astounding."

"Oh come on," she bumped his arm again with her own, "I have all the faith in you."

He sped up and turned around so that he was walking backwards and facing Marinette. "You know, you're one of the funniest people I know Marinette."

She raised a brow. Marinette couldn't describe why, but him saying that gave her more pause than she would've thought appropriate.

"Really? We've barely talked Cat Noir, how could you say that in full confidence?"

His wide grin was infectious, and soon she was grinning too. "Well, when I say 'funniest', what I really mean to say is 'strangest' in the nicest way possible."

"Oh, say it isn't so," she sarcastically retorted.

"If I'm correct, I've seen all of your classmates... I think they're your classmates... I think I've seen them all at least a dozen times now in my travels saving the city, but I've only seen you a handful of times." He acted as though her classmates were vague memories in his mind, of course knowing full well they were her classmates because they were his too. "And everytime I see you, you are uniquely calm and... dare I say, focused? Boy, you were on point with the Evillustrator. What's more, is people tend to act a certain way around me, but you treat it like its a everyday occurrence, ironically enough." His tilted head asked for insight, and Marinette felt compelled to comply.

"I uhm... I see you all the time, flying around, I guess you just don't see me while you're doing it." A lie to end all lies. Its annoyed Marinette more than a few times how Cat Noir can't stop flirting with Ladybug, and his eyes are always on her. Of course, she can't say that, so a lie will have to do.

"How do you stay so calm though?"

"Uh... yoga."

Cat had to bite back his words. He wanted to say that he saw her room several times already, and never saw a yoga mat, but that would be creepy. "Well, whatever the reason is, I think you'd make a great superhero."

He turned his back on her and went back to walking like a normal person. She was thankful for such a small blessing as she found herself blushing. "Most people actually say I'm amazingly clumsy. Thank you."

"No problem." Cat thought on it for a moment, and he had to agree with most people though, Marinette was clumsy. How was she so scatterbrained some of the time and the opposite the other? "Actually, why are you in your pajamas? It's hardly late..."

The short answer was that she took a shower and was ready to turn in early for the day, just another unfortunate factor in her predicament. She couldn't use that one though. So she went with the long answer.

"You can't just ask a girl what she was doing in her home, Cat Noir! You have to have some tact!" she almost shouted at him. She could see his shoulders tense up, as though he really didn't want to get yelled at right now. Or maybe the way she worded it made him uncomfortable. In her infinite grace, she pressed on without alteration. "It's just like, you don't just ask a lady her age, or a stranger for their bank account numbers! Or, or, some other... example that would prove how incredibly rude... and crass such questions are! Really! Ow!"

"Oh come on," he rolled his shoulders, patient but not endlessly so, "it wasn't that bad of a question."

"No! I just stepped on a rock..." He looked over his shoulder to see her hopping to keep up with him.

"Oh, I'm stupid, here," Cat Noir backtracked and kneeled with his back to her. "Get on, you probably shouldn't be walking barefoot."

She grit her teeth, pondered the options, and weighed her dignity. Then she looked down the endless road and looked at her feet. "Fine."

Minutes later, she found that the heat coming off of his back was fantastic, of course at the trade off of the awkwardness of her resting most of the weight of her chest against his back, his skin tight, leather back, which left little to either of their imaginations.

"It's weird that your eyes are green." She spoke quietly, his ear already next to her mouth. Birds flew overhead against a orange sky.

"Why would it be weird?" he asked.

"Well last time I checked, people's eyeballs weren't green."

"Uhm, I don't know how to break this to you, but, it's called an iris, and quite a few people have green irises, irisii? Iresen?" If Cat Noir didn't have important questions before, he did now.

"Cat I- I know what an iris is, your actual eyeball is green, that's what I'm talking about!"

Cat Noir had many important questions now.

"What!?"

"Do you not know?" They both were genuinely shocked and surprised.

"My entire eye is green!? That sounds terrifying! I had no idea, I haven't looked in a mirror as Cat Noir really-"

"No no no, not your entire eye, well, most of it, your iris is more emerald I guess while your eyeball is more... yellow."

"Ew."

"It doesn't look bad, don't worry about it." She pat his head.

"I'm going to have to look when we get to town, because that still sounds gross."

She pat his head from both sides, as goofy as it looked. With a giggle she promised him, "It's not gross."

Within minutes, the orange twilight started fading to dark blue. It got noticeably colder, but Marinette found Cat Noir to be plenty warm, especially with the work he was putting in. "Well how about that." He scoffed.

"Hmm?" The vibration traveled easily from her chest to his, making the sound just that much more visceral to the both of them.

"I'm pretty sure this is the longest time I've spent hanging out with a person before, especially in costume."

"No way, it can't be," she argued, skepticism in her tone.

"No, really."

"What, no siblings?"

"Nope."

"Okay, what about best friends?"

"The time I hang out with them is pretty limited."

"I know that feeling," she sighed as she spoke.

"What's that?"

She forgot herself briefly, but came back. "Oh, you know, akuma attacks just have a habit of ruining my plans is all."

"Ah."

"So, no siblings or best friends, but, I mean, you can't forget your mom or dad..."

Cat Noir went stiff under her, but kept walking. No response. Her eyes widened and she felt the shiver one might get from realizing they've stepped on a landmine. Suddenly, she became aware of the cold air embracing them. "I'm so sorry Cat, I didn't realize... I shouldn't have pried." She was thankful she was behind him. She couldn't look him in the eyes.

He cleared his throat. "No, its fine, I set myself up for that."

Minutes dragged on, but she didn't know what to say, and he didn't feel talkative. "Cat, you might-" The boy went 'tsk' and sighed, Marinette jolting in hurt shock. "Excuse me?"

He tossed his head in the direction of a billboard up ahead. Adrien Agreste's face was plastered beside some two-hundred euro musk product, angel feathers and blue skies as his back drop. "Even out here, they can't help but show his face, pfft." Tried as he might, he couldn't hide his annoyance at having his visage sold out to the highest bidders. Modeling wasn't nearly the worst job, but his father didn't exactly let him have any choice in the matter.

"What's wrong with his face!?" she shrieked into his ear, offended by his tone on Adrien's behalf, of course ironically.

Her piercing voice rung in his skull, throwing him off balance for a moment, almost dropping her. It helped to only make the boy more irate. "His face is fake, obviously!"

"Ugh! What? Cat Noir, I'm pretty sure his face is real," asserted Marinette, somewhat befuddled by the accusation. "What do you even mean 'fake'? Like... robot?!"

"You know what I mean!"

"No! I don't!"

"It's all an act, obviously!"

"What!?" She groaned. "Cat, he's a model, obviously he poses for the camera. Besides, you literally are putting on an act the entire time yourself, so you're one to talk!" The girl wrangled herself off his back, her spiking rage keeping her warm as the cold air and ground tackled her senses. To rub in her defiance, she took to a quicker pace. Something about it all made his skin crawl.

Shrugging with a sigh, he sped up and walked behind her. They both saw a town come into view to their right, but paid no words of attention to it. "Who says I'm acting? Maybe I like the way I do things. At least I'm not a trained monkey." On a normal day, he would've never even considered saying something like that, but now? His free spirit was being dismissed in favor of his gilded cage alter ego, and that didn't feel right at all.

"Monkey?" she spoke low and slow. She turned around and his heart ached at the glare she was giving him. Taking a heavy step towards him, Marinette jabbed her finger into his chest, and in a quick snarl said, "So is that how it is? It seems you're a real jerk when you're not too busy flirting!" Pushing him away, she continued towards the town.

"Since when am I always flirting!?" he yelled at the top of his lungs, sincerely indignant, maybe a little furious. "I've met you all of three times! I poured my heart out to you about my feelings to another girl even! Which... now that saying it out loud, is not something you do in polite company, but it should prove my point nonetheless!"

Admittedly, Marinette was counting every time he flirted with her as Ladybug, and didn't even count the time on her balcony, but she figured that if he flirted with Ladybug, and he flirted with Marinette, he probably flirted with everyone. "Well I hear you're always flirting!" she yelled back, lying of course.

"Well I always hear that you're actually really nice, and awesome, and totally cool, but you know what!?" He shouted back again.

"What?"

"You've been short with me all day, I'm just trying to help you, but no! I finally see that you really do have no faith in me, I'm just Cat Noir, the sidekick, the bait, whatever, I don't care!"

"Agh! Whatever!" she threw her hand over her shoulder. "Insecurities much? One person is not nice to you so you get upset! Are all the fangirls that throw themselves at you not enough?"

"Ten year old girls don't count!" If asked, Cat Noir wouldn't have been able to explain why he thought of Alya's two younger sisters first and foremost. Maybe it was because they were some of the few people that actually threw themselves at him.

"Why!? Because you can't flirt with them!?"

Before they knew it, Cat Noir and Marinette were shouting with no filter or mercy all the way into the town of Neufmoutiers-en-Brie, every possible detail they could find to get mad at each other feeding into the next, until they completely forgot what the original hang up was. For ten minutes, they ignored the worried looks of people passing by in the town's small streets, voices hoarse from yelling.

Only by the time she followed Cat Noir to the entrance of a clothing store did they get tired of shouting. The black clad boy opened the door for his ward with a heavy, tired sigh. "Princess..." he mumbled.

It was much warmer inside, a happy jingle played faintly in the background, and the cashier, presumably the owner and the only other person in the building, smiled at the back of the store. Finding it in themselves to be a bit more civil in a public place, especially one so naturally quiet, they both took deep breaths and ventured in deeper.

"Wait, do you have money?" she mumbled to him. She tried her best to hide her worry, as she really didn't want to get any colder that she already had to.

"I'll handle it. Your shoe size is..." he looked at her feet, "Thirty-Nine, right?"

"So this is what being creeped out feels like, yeah." A pit of guilt grew in her belly though. He mentioned in a passing thought about doing something about the autumn climate, but she had completely forgotten in all the arguing. Yet here they were, and he was going to get her shoes, at least as it seemed.

"Alright, go sit down over there, I'll be back in a minute." A sigh, he disappeared behind racks of clothes, leaving her to her thoughts.

The bench was padded, and warm. Over an hour of walking barefoot was as tiring as one might expect, and she plopped down with a heavy _fomph._ Leaning her head back, she closed her eyes, a pseudo nap washing over her as she stewed in all her thoughts and all the things she said. At first, she tried justifying herself, and ran down a checklist of all the ways Cat Noir had wronged her.

 _'He flirts with me constantly... and he's annoying...'_

Then on the flip side, she listed the less than terrible things he's done.

 _'He's risked his life every day to save Paris and keep me out of harm's way... he's been nothing but kind... he would die for Ladybug... oh... now I feel sick.'_

Once justifying herself didn't pan out as she hoped, she tried downplaying the things she said. But once she considered the ramifications of accusing Cat Noir of questionable habits with young girls in front of strangers in a public place, she felt even more sick to her stomach. "Some partner I am."

A red face peeked out from her pajama pant's pocket, Tikki's face shadowed but clearly displeased. "I know, Tikki, I know..."

A short while later, Cat Noir came back. In his arms was a shoe box, a pair of socks, a long folded coat, and a bowl with a rag. While Marinette had calmed down significantly in the time they arrived, the boy still wanted to throw the articles of clothes at her and walk away, but by virtue of that not being the nice thing to do, he didn't.

Kneeling down and putting down his cargo, he asked for her feet. "What?" she asked, her tone far softer and more approachable now, if not a little husky.

He kept his voice level and neutral. "I gotta clean your feet first." His voice too was scratchy.

"Alright."

She lifted one foot at a time, resting her heel on his knee. He grabbed the rag and dipped it in the water, which to her pleasant surprise was hot. Careful to not be too rough, Cat Noir ended up giving Marinette the impression that he was being gentle. He washed the sole of her feet along the well toned forms, tenderly getting all the dirt from the toes and their crevices without jerking them in odd directions. By the time he was finished with both feet, Marinette felt a slight blush in her cheeks from the combination of awkwardness and care. Cat Noir had simply forgotten what he was doing at all and why, finding the way the black and dirt washed away to reveal clean skin greatly cathartic.

He handed her the socks to put on, they gave her the shoe box and jacket to put on. As she started the dressing process, she asked calmly, "So uh, you had money on you?"

"No. But uhm... I promised to pay back the owner later, and he said 'anything for a hero of Paris', and he gave me some actual money so we could get bus tickets and food. As long as uhm... as long as he got to take a picture with me, but yeah, nice man."

Marinette grinned. "'Anything for a hero of Paris'? I bet that made you feel a little better, right?"

Cat Noir couldn't fight that little soft motherly up turn at the last word that Marinette was fond of doing. He closed his eyes, folded his arms, and struck a subtle pose. "A little."

"Hmm."

The socks were soft and wooly, the boots were tall, brown, and leather, and the coat felt fantastic. Slightly puffy, with a soft canvas fabric that was a dark earthy green over off-white fleece, it had a tan fur lined hood, and it went down to her knees. As a fun bonus, it seemed to have a half dozen pockets and a small french flag on its left arm. Zipping it up and doing the duffle cords, it felt like she was being hugged with comfort. "I think it's neat, but it's definitely unusual that they have duffle cords on a non duffle coat."

"I figured you would be quick to point that out."

She looked up at him and tilted her head. "Is that a bad thing?"

A sigh. "As long as you don't bash the man's choices, no, its fine."

They held a gaze for a moment, a new tension forming, though both would've interpreted it differently. "I like it," she tenderly informed him.

He nodded, acknowledging her decision. "Alright, lets get something to eat."

"Definitely."

Walking back outside, the night sky a tapestry of stars and the town lighting up with lamp posts and colorful business lights, Marinette felt the boisterous confidence gained from getting new clothes, especially clothes suited to the environment. The padding inside kept the cold outside her newly protected domain, and her long socks went up to her knees, as in just below the coat, effectively covering all weak spots she previously flaunted. "By the way, how much did it cost? I'll pay you back."

"Don't worry about it," he assured her, waving his hand to the side. Their breaths could be seen.

She caught up to him, standing shoulder to shoulder with him for the first time in a while, relatively speaking. "No really, how much?"

He chuckled, "Its my treat, don't sweat it."

She would've left it alone, but something poked her in one of the boots, and she found something in one of her lower pockets. Marinette held two price tags in her hands. She started choking on her spit. "Nine-hundred euros between the two of them Cat Noir!? I can't accept this!"

With a roll of his eyes and a shrug, he repeated himself. "Really, don't worry about it. I have the money."

She slowed down a little as she put away the tags and thought to herself, then caught back up to him, her hair and her whole coat bouncing as she jogged. Her hands found a cozy new home inside her pockets. "Cat Noir..." she leaned in and whispered, "are you rich?"

"Well that's a rude question to ask. And I can't really answer anyway."

Her eyes searched the ground for thoughts, then turned back to him. "You're not going to do anything illegal, are you?" If she sounded concerned, it was because she was.

"Pfft, it wouldn't be the first time, but not this time." He remained neutral in his voice, which was both soothing and suspicious in its own right.

She wanted to pry further, get answers, but it didn't take long to realize what he meant; as Ladybug, she too had broken many laws, obscure and obvious alike. "Alright, I'll trust you."

"In here." He held the door for her and followed her into a ice cream and frozen yogurt shop. "Get whatever," he offered sternly.

"Okay," Marinette sheepishly answered.

At first, she tried taking a medium bowl of frozen strawberry yogurt to the counter, but then Cat Noir blocked her way with a hand on her arm. "Come on, if you're going to get a treat, put a little flair in it. It'll be basically the same price."

She looked to Cat, then to the cashier lady who seemed to be in awe at the sight of Cat, then to the assorted toppings that could go with it. Evidently, she wanted it. "If you say so."

First it was blueberries, then Oreo, then some red bursting boba, some almond, a handful of gummy bears, caramel, whip cream, then when she realized she had the caramel on the wrong side of the whip cream, she drizzled more caramel on top of the whip cream where it belonged, sprinkled some coconut for good measure and put a garnish of a maraschino cherry on top. She put the masterpiece atop the scale and noticed they had freshly baked cookies by the cash register, and grabbed 4 of those. Cat Noir asked the lady for two scoops of vanilla ice cream in a cup, no cone. "Are you serious?" Marinette whispered to the boy. "You did this on purpose, you wanted me to feel bad, didn't you?"

Cat Noir gritted his teeth hard, stopped breathing, and held a few graceful fingers to his lips to hide a growing snicker. He tried to at least. "No," he lied.

The cashier lady could hardly contain her excitement either, and was badly pretending she wasn't about to freak out about serving a famous celebrity. Marinette looked up at the boy with a face that screamed 'Oh really? No one like you?' mixed with a modicum of sass.

Taking their food outside, they sat down at some black iron-worked cafe tables. She stuffed the cookies into her pocket and stuffed her face with the first bite of heaven. Most of her worries started to well and truly melt away, with the exception of one that sat across from her. "Still mad?" she inquired softly.

He took a bite of his plain ice cream. "A little." Another bite. "More than a little."

With a remorseful sigh, she slid her bowl forward more into his 'court', offering some. "Try a bite, you probably wanted toppings too, right?"

His furrowed brows and frown softened to something closer to a tired expression. Taking up the apologetic gesture, he dug his spoon into the mess of sugar and dairy and carried it to his mouth where he suck on the spoon for a moment. A smile of glee flashed across his face before he hid it away again. "It's good," he said simply, nodding.

She could feel the cookies in her pocket slowly disappearing to the endless void that was Tikki's belly, a comforting sign. Without her purse of macaroons, she was afraid Tikki would be starving long enough to never let Marinette live it down. Yet another issue resolved, leaving the largest hurdle to jump still. "Look, Cat..." a dry gulp helped to swallow her pride, "I'm sorry. I was stressed out before, and I took it out on you."

The boy's nose twitched, to which he itched it, then looked off to the side. Green eyes shot furtive glances to Marinette's. "I'm sorry too. I kinda got caught off guard too."

A sincere smile returned to her lips. "Yeah." They ate a few more spoonfuls before she continued. "I just gotta ask, what is your... issue with Adrien? I've never heard you talk about someone like that before."

At first, she didn't think he would respond, but after a long awkward silence, he spoke, but only after he had thought out his response with extreme care. He knew if he didn't she would be unsatisfied and keep asking. "That boy is the antithesis to me. I know him somewhat, and I know that he isn't as free as you think he is, and I feel bad for the kid. I just don't like... it bothers me when people glorify how he has to live." Saying out loud what he had been thinking in the back of his mind for so long hurt, almost as that pain he felt suddenly became real.

"I see." Marinette, however, was being crushed with shame. In all her worshipping of Adrien, it never occurred to her of the price he had to pay to live with such a strict dad and a brutal fashion industry. She knew he never had time between all his private tutoring, job, and classes, but never considered what it would be like to do it in his shoes. It seemed trivially obvious now that Cat pointed it out, and the fact that Cat, who wasn't even a classmate that saw Adrien everyday, could point it out just made her feel even worse. "Man, I'm on a roll today." She slapped her head down on the table with a clatter.

"Hmm?"

"Never mind."

"Come on," he pointed to her bowl with his ice cream covered utensil, "eat up."

A couple minutes passed in quiet until she verbalized a nagging question she had since they got here. "Why ice cream though?"

"I didn't notice any cheese specialty shops on the way here."

"Cheese?" Cat Noir and cheese, Marinette felt as though she remembered that combination from somewhere, sometime.

"Yeah, ice cream's close enough to get me by." Plagg wouldn't have been pleased, but Adrien wanted something with dairy, and the child in him just wanted ice cream. He wasn't about to admit it though.

Marinette bit into one of the gummy bears she had put in, no longer gummy but more like stiff clay that snapped if squeezed too fast. "You know," she sucked her spoon dry, "I regret putting in these gummy bears."

"How so?"

"The yogurt makes them too cold, they're too hard to chew, kinda ruins the flow of consumption."

"You mean like, it slows you down?"

"Exactly, everything else is either smooth or easy to break down, these gummies are stubborn."

"I'll have them then," he suggested, hope in his face.

She giggled. "Alright, here you go." Scooping out the general regions of her bowl with the gummies in them, she made sure to get extra toppings in there to flavor up what little there was left of his bowl. After the gummies were out, she finished her bowl within seconds.

"Heh, I guess they really were slowing you down," he said through audible crunching sounds.

"Yeah I'm not putting them in next time. Whatever those fish egg things were, they were good." Done, she pushed her bowl aside and leaned forward, content with herself.

"You mean these?" he asked, pointing to the last red boba in his spoon. She nodded in agreement. "It's called bursting boba. I never thought of them as fish eggs until you pointed it out though."

She looked to the sky for a moment. "What's boba?"

"This I guess."

Marinette laughed. "That's specific. What, cat got your tongue?"

Cat Noir laughed as he threw his head back, crying out, "Stahp, don't make fun of me!"

"Oh you poor thing, you dish it out but you can't take it, can you?"

He flung himself forward and leaned in, mirroring her, a wide grin plastered ear to ear. "Don't you mean 'you _paw_ thing'?"

"Nope!" She stood up, "I'm done, let's go." She wasn't fooling anyone, she thought it was cute, but that would be admitting defeat. Choosing a random direction, she began walking in it while Cat Noir shoveled the last of his toppings with a side of vanilla and gathered their trash to throw away.

"I do believe we should be heading this way," he commented over by the garbage can.

She stopped, not particularly embarrassed as she hadn't intended on committing to a route anyways. "I was just making sure you were paying attention." She glanced at the metal, green bin Cat was leaning on. "Oh, look Cat Noir, I didn't think we'd be finding your home all the way out here."

His face lit up and he clapped as loudly as he could. "Ohhhhh! That was incredible princess! You should be proud, I think you'll need to take me to the hospital for that burn." Once he started laughing so heartily, she couldn't help resist its infectiousness. Passersby were shooting curious looks at the two laughing madmen by the garbage can.

Once they both had their fun, Marinette was hunched over gasping for breath and Cat was holding his sides. "Alright alright alright," she repeated, struggling for controls, "where do we go now?"

"Well," he cleared his throat, laughing still a little, "I guess we find a bus stop." He looked a little sad when he said it, but Marinette didn't see it. Instead, she looked sadly at the town and the road going roughly in the direction of Paris.

Regardless of her misgivings and their fight, she was having... fun. And as much as she would fight the notion that she liked spending time with him, she never had the chance to just hang out with Cat Noir without having to save someone.

Cat Noir was one of her closest friends. This was one of her only chances to enjoy his company.

"I've actually wanted to visit outside the city limits for a while now... why don't we walk some more and explore a little bit?" She surprised herself as the words came from her mouth. It was the truth, and the night was young, but she couldn't really believe she basically asked to be walked home, at least part of the way, by Cat Noir.

His small smile made it worth it though. "Yeah, whatever you want."

Cat Noir plotted a course on his pole GPS and lead the way, Marinette walking shoulder to shoulder with him. They knew they'd be walking for a while, and that was fine. The long stretches of road through the La Marsange woods seemed to pass in moments as they talked about everything and nothing at all.

As they passed the general hospital founded away from everything, they discussed the pleasure of stepping away from Parisian architecture in turn for nature if even for a night.

"It sounds stupid to say out loud, but I don't think I've ever seen a moss covered wooden fence in person before," she exclaimed, pointing at the aforementioned fence. The moonlight was not enough to light up the shadows of the woods, but what she could see was in fair blue detail.

"No, I get what you mean, it's downright chaos out here, I love it."

"No crossing streets, that's for sure, and it's so pretty!"

As they hit a three way in the road, Cat Noir pointed to the marshy sparse section of woods to their north, all the trees thin and bare unlike the neighboring groups of trees. "I wish I could see all of that in my normal form, I bet that would look so creepy."

She laughed. "Yeah, you're not wrong, it's really creepy looking. That's where you go to disappear only to be found on the headlines a month later- wait... you can see in the dark, can't you?"

"Yep, it's all green to me, lit up, that's why I wish I could see it like how you are now."

"It's green!? I guess everything about your eyes are green, yeesh."

Further along the road, Marinette pointed out the offshoot road. "I bet if we followed that, we'd find Kakariko Village."

"Pfft, they'd take one look at me and say, 'Hey Link, what're you doing here?'"

She hopped along in inspired thought. "Cat! You could do an awesome Link costume for Halloween!"

"I don't know, I don't think I'm qualified to be the Hero of Time, but do you think I'll be a hero for all times?" His smile reflected the moonlight.

Marinette slapped his belly. "Stop it! That was terrible!" she half laughed, half cried.

At the bridge that went over the train tracks, telephone cables on either side of the tracks going in either direction to the horizon, they stopped to admire the perspective.

"Wow, look at that, its like a perfect hallway," she commented, leaning over the netted guard rail.

He joined beside her, "Yeah, that's neat the way it, uh... like all the lines converge on the vanishing point."

She nodded her head, then lifted her arm off the rail, pointing at the trees and the tracks. "Yeah lets see, you got the two lanes made by the trees, two lanes of cables, two sets of train tracks, even the service road on either side, it's perfectly symmetrical."

"Not only that, we're at a bit of a high point here, we got a good view."

Down the road they found a fence to a dirt road.

"That's odd," announced the boy, "according to my map, that dirt road is supposed to be one of the official roads to get around here."

"Pfft, well no one is going down that road now."

And a minute later, they were singing.

"It's actually 'and the hour is getting late, hyuh,'" Marinette managed in her best gruff voice.

"Really?" he chuckled. "I always thought he was singing 'and I was getting lasers'."

"No no no, 'and the hour is getting late dot dot dot, hyuh'. You gotta have that 'hyuh' in there."

"That makes more sense actually, I never got how the joker and the thief were supposed to have lasers. Here, how about this now?" Cat Noir got a little running start and struck a pose, singing as loud as he could in the deepest voice he could. "All along the watchtower!" Then he flung his arm to point a finger at Marinette, whatever that was supposed to mean.

She clapped, "That was pretty good Cat!" she remarked.

He bowed to an imaginary crowd. "Thank you, thank you, you can all buy my album for your loved ones this Christmas, your kitties will love it."

And before long they were comparing mile times.

"You'd be surprised Cat, I may be clumsy, but boy do I run like I got buns burning in the oven." The girl held up a resolute fist to her chest, a cocky grin on her face.

A snicker. "Sounds like you have a lot of experience with burning buns."

Maintaining her prideful demeanor, she agreed. "Yes. Yes I do." Letting down her fist, she looked up to her companion. "Have you ever eaten from my family's bakery?"

"A handful of times." He sighed. Now he was hungry. Their bakery was good enough for that to happen regularly.

Her brows raised with a tilt of the head. "Really? Did I ever serve you while you were out of costume?"

Cat tapped his jaw line and held his elbow as he thought, humming to himself. "I don't think so."

Marinette's face twisted in confusion. "So you came in costume then? My parents would've told me if you had bought something..."

"Maybe I wasn't in costume, I don't actually know." He was telling the truth, his memories were fuzzy on it, but he remembered eating there maybe twice as Adrien, but it was too late to take back or divulge on his secret identity.

"Well you should come by sometime, maybe I can chip away at my debt with sweets." She fluttered her coat sleeves, reminding him that she owed him.

"I can't turn down a personal invitation from my princess. Consider it done."

She pretended to gag. "Princess, how'd I get that name in the first place? Actually, Cat, spill the beans." Another elbow bump.

"Yes?"

"I hear you call Ladybug 'bugaboo', you call me 'princess', what other pet names do you have? I know you've saved Alya, uh, my best friend, a few times. What do you call her?"

Marinette elbowed him gently again, and beamed a smile up at him, a cheeky smile that made Cat Noir try to breathe in twice, only to realize he lost track at some point. "Uhm, uh..." he took a moment to remember the question, what pet names did he have for others, "Uhm..." and after deep contemplation, he realized he didn't have pet names for anyone else. "Oddly enough... that's it."

She almost tripped on nothing. "Excuse me...what? I refuse to believe it."

"It's true."

She didn't know how to feel about that fact. "Alright, say I believe you, why?"

He laughed to himself. "You know, now that I think about it, I think I know why." Rubbing the back of his head, he cleared his throat for an incident he didn't think he'd ever tell about. "When I first really met you, the night of the Evillustrator incident, Ladybug said she had some important mission or something..."

Marinette nodded. She remembered telling him something along those lines.

"And, I thought it was kind of odd, but while she was telling me to find you, look after you, about how that boy was obsessed with you, it really caught me off guard but she kinda asked me if you were cute, that is after sending a picture of you."

Marinette nodded. And blushed. She remembered asking something like that very much so. She couldn't remember why though.

"I think that comment stuck out to me, and as the first sort of designated VIP by Ladybug, I think I took to thinking of you as... I don't know, royalty? More just along the lines that Ladybug had never name-called someone to protect before. Does that make sense?"

Marinette nodded. It made a sort of sense. "Well? What did you tell her?" If she recalled correctly, she hadn't actually given him time for a response, but any opportunity to fluster Cat was a good time. Of course, she forgot who she was talking to.

"I told her the truth of course," he responded with a sort of swagger, "I told her that cute wasn't enough to truly catch the meaning of your beauty." The phrase 'nailed it' ran through his mind.

"Stop it!" she bashfully screamed, covering her face to hide the blood rushing to her cheeks. "I can't, no, stop it! That's too much, stop lying."

He laughed. "Ahhhh I'll let you decide whether I was lying or not." He was on a roll.

"Okay, how about this, let's go back to the mile time thing; we'll do it right now. Here's the rules, when I say GO!" Marinette dashed away, leaving a confused Cat to scratch behind his ear.

"Oh, I get it now." Starting a brisk jog, it wasn't long before he was on her tail. "Oh I'ma get'cha!"

"Nope!" Defiance was second nature to her, even if it was unfounded. Already winded, she struggled to keep her sprint up, but was under the false impression that Cat was really trying. He playfully swiped at her back and got an excited squeal out of it. "No!" she cried out in between pants of heavy gasps for air.

"Oh no, you're winning!" he lied, pretending to get tired and fall behind. But he couldn't leave it at that. As she gave a victorious war cry and threw up her arms, still running, he came up from behind and scooped her up, then ran faster still.

"Ah! No! Stupid superpowers!"

Having had his fun, he slowed down and put her down, just a little winded himself. "You're not slow, so you can be proud of that."

Hunched over and about ready to die, she gave him a dirty look. "Oh please... take me on... without the costume... and I'll take you... to the bank... oh wow... I'm seeing stars."

"Well if someone had to know who I was, you're one of a few I'd be fine with knowing. But I'll take a rain check on that at the moment. You okay?" A black gloved hand rubbed her back.

"Yeah... just give me a moment." Although the fall air smelled wonderful, the crisp chill it carried burned her lungs upon over drawing breaths, though there were always worse pains to suffer.

Cat Noir ended up carrying Marinette the last little ways to the next town of Favieres.

"I don't know what I was expecting, but I'm somehow surprised it looks so much like a one-story Paris."

"Yeah no kidding," confirmed Cat Noir. The layered sandstone colored rock wall lamented with black iron bars reminded him an awful lot of his own home. "It's almost as though both cities are inspired by the same architects," he sarcastically added.

"Say it isn't so," she jeered back.

After rummaging around a sparsely populated grocery store, Cat Noir and Marinette walked out with a foot long baguette, plastic knives, spreadable veggie chocked goat cheese, and a salmon pink pate. They discovered by accident a independent film showing in one of the pseudo parks that sat between the main road and the neighborhood roads, an off center diamond shaped grass area with a single tree sitting in the middle of it.

They took their seats in the back on one of the provided log benches, and began preparing their dinners. "Come on," chided Marinette, "a little more pate, don't be stingy," she twisted the slice of bread in her hand to offer the easiest access of spreadable goodness, "Yeaaaah, nice. Oop! There it goes," she narrated as a bit of cheese fell to the ground.

"And it's gone," he chuckled. "My turn."

"Shhh!" The lady in front of them had turned in her seat to shush them, and it was apparent as she turned back around that she didn't take notice of Cat Noir.

The two teenagers smiled deviously to each other, partners in crime forever disturbing film showings. Crumbs littered the ground in front of them as the baguette was scarfed down nigh instantly, Cat Noir using his fingers to scrap the corners of the pate and cheese containers for every last bit of food. They had been so fixated on the food they hardly realized they walked halfway in on the movie, which then provided its own form of entertainment in the way of trying to decipher what in the world was happening in the story.

"I don't get it," whispered Marinette, "why won't he tell her he loves her? They already had a kid, didn't they?"

"That's his mother, Marinette."

"What?"

"Shhh!" went the grouchy lady.

By the next scene, it was Cat's turn.

"Wait, I thought Rebecca was tending to the store. How is she at the farm right now?"

"No Cat, because that's not Rebecca, that's her sister."

"What, no, that's Rebecca, same face, same clothes."

"No, Rebecca wears a dark red shirt, the sister is the one in a black shirt..." Her eyes lit up. "Oh, I can see your issue."

He nodded. "Yep. Both look black to me."

"Shhhhh!"

But by the end, they had no answers to all the questions they had. Harvested fields lit blue by moonlight passed them on both sides as the main road turned to dirt. An oil leak from some unfortunate farm truck painted a dotted trail along the way, mixing the smell of cut grass with car smell.

"So," Marinette pursed her lips, slow to find the right words, "where did the werewolf play into the larger story?"

"Okay, so it wasn't just me who thought that came out of nowhere?" asked the boy through a sudden shiver. He straightened his back and the shudder of his hair and head grabbed Marinette's attention.

"Are you cold?" The softness in her voice alone seemed to draw warmth to him. He had to stifle an embarrassed laugh in his throat at the idea of asking her to ask the question again.

He shrugged, stuffing his hands in his tight suit pockets. "A little. Leather isn't renowned for winter wear."

"Here." With an elegance he seldom saw of Marinette, she slid her hand through the crook of his arm and pulled him closer, so they could walk arm in arm. She herself found the act suggestive and just a tad intimate, but figured he deserved to be warm after he did the same service for her before. Regardless, Marinette became self conscious of their proximity.

Cat, caught by surprise, had just the one thought, laden with a heavy conscience.

 _Marinette would look good in red._

"Maybe the werewolf was symbolic," she suggested, eager to move her focus away from their arms. "Maybe the werewolf represented Jimmy's unbridled desire, and that's why he couldn't decide between Rebecca or her sister."

He burst out laughing, and had to bite down on his free hand. The boy marveled at Marinette's timing, and how it couldn't have been more perfect.

"What's so funny?" she laughed along with him, partly out of nervousness and part out of how adorable his laugh was.

After a long moment and having wiped a tear from his eye, he pointed out something he figured out in the last couple seconds. It wasn't what started him laughing, but it did add to it. "Jimmy was the werewolf."

Marinette gasped. "Oh! That's why he wasn't in the last act of the movie!" She slapped her forehead and looked down. "You know, it's really obvious now that you point it out. That's what we get for missing the first half."

"Yeah," he groaned as he stretched out his back, "I think the werewolf represented, uhm, Jimmy's struggle to maintain his routine life after becoming a werewolf when presented with the event of uh..."

"...getting turned into a werewolf," they finished the thought in unison, bobbing their heads to the rhythm of their words.

"I imagine becoming a bloodthirsty monster would hamper personal relationships and your work life." Marinette quietly laughed to herself. Gaining a supernatural power and having it get in the way of things was a feeling she was all too familiar with. Looking up to the boy next to her, she realized, whoever he was under that thin mask, he was the only other person who knew exactly how that felt.

Only then with that thought, with him so close, with her hiding in plain sight, only then did she fully comprehend the depths of their partnership. They were two unique people on either side of a curtain on the same lifeboat, aware of the other's presence, each manning a paddle, but not privy to the other's face. She began to wonder if he too was a student like her, someone who had to make excuses to save Paris, someone who had to hide, whether he was interrupting dates and sensitive work hours to run to her side.

Without the immediate threat of an akuma and with all the time to have him there in person, she grasped the idea that he was his own person before all this, and he has a life... one that she isn't a part of, one she doesn't help with like he was doing for her now. As far as she knew.

 _Would it be so dangerous to be a part of Cat Noir's life?_

It was her, after all, who set the rule that they never learned each other's identity, granted as much was suggested by Tikki, a failsafe meant to keep each other safe should one be akumatized. The question she asked herself was only for herself to answer.

The night endured alongside their good mannered walk, a waning moon high in the sky now. Two sets of ears rested easy on the lull of the sleepy breeze, the brief moments of true stillness bringing a silence that rang in their heads. Healthy fields of grass, moistened by dew, glistened the light of the night sky, and in the movement of the wind, the ground sparkled. For a while, the two children kept their lips sealed, their eyes caught in the moving waves that formed in the grass.

Marinette's pace slowed in her fascination with the scene. Not one to be rude, Cat followed her as she closed the distance to the side of the road, soon turning to face the field and standing still. He looked to her steady gaze and the object of her attention. While not entranced like she was, he could guess and sympathize with what she was thinking, or rather feeling.

From a technical standpoint, the wind and grass formed hypnotizing patterns and sparkles, and was pleasing to any viewer. From a interpretive side, the motions were calming, subdued, but many in number. He couldn't explain it, but for him, a melancholic cord inside him was resonating. Maybe it was the green and black hues. Maybe it was how the grass seemed to hang weakly, at the mercy of the wind.

Then why, he wondered as he looked back to her, did she smile so warmly to it all? Perhaps she was seeing it differently than he was. It then occurred to him, finally, that the green filter he was seeing it all with quite literally made it so he was looking at something very different. The thoughts that wandered like butterflies in his head fluttered away however when his attention was arrested towards the reflection in her eyes.

Her eyes sparkled with the crashing waves of the green sea, and before he knew it, Cat was pawing at the center of his chest. More than anything, he wished he could see it again, but with his actual eyes, and see it in its proper blue palette.

A murder of crows flying overhead cawed as murders of crows are inclined to do. Both children jumped in their skins, looked to each other, and laughed.

"Crows, one. Us, zero," Cat jested, rubbing his nose abashedly.

She shook her head while she yawned. "Crows, two. There's two of us, so... double points. Anyway." Marinette looked back to the field. "It's beautiful."

He smiled. "Always the optimist." He found comfort in that consistent factor.

Marinette did a subdued double take, asking in hushed tones, "What do you mean by that?"

"I thought the grass looked sad maybe."

She elbowed him. "Silly Cat, you really should stop projecting so much." His shocked expression and defensive half-step back conjured a worried laugh from her chest, and she reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "I'm kidding, relax," she urged him. "And I thought _I_ was jumpy."

Snickering, he wagged a humbled finger at her. "That was good," he admitted, "you shooketh me up good there."

"Good," Marinette snickered in return with her own finger, "and don't you forget it."

A similar landscape greeted them when the road became enveloped with trees on either side again, the remaining leaves on the branches dancing to and fro.

"If my map here," Cat gestured to his pole staff, that doubled as seemingly everything else when the situation arose, "if my map is correct, there is a lake a little..." he fiddled with the device, looked to his left, then his right, then straight up, then back to the map, his hair bouncing all the while, "there's a lake to the south of us, and if you're willing, I kinda wanna go see it."

She gave an over exaggerated roll of the shoulders as she rocked her head, channeling her inner old wise sage-ness. "Well I guess this is the test where we decide whether we are teenagers, or if we're responsible adults."

"Explain," he said, striking a pose with folded arms, "of course, under the assumption that I am under the age of twenty... of course."

"Of course. As responsible adults, we would make a bee line to Paris as to arrive home at the earliest juncture. As _teenagers_ , we would succumb to our rebellious tendencies and we would prance around the countryside at our leisure, arriving home only after our curiosity and wanderlust has been sated."

"Why madam, I do believe we already made our decision," Cat offered.

She raised an inquisitive hand and her chin, urging him, "Why do explain my good sir."

"Under the condition that we were responsible adults, we would've already taken a more efficient means of travel such as the high occupancy automobile colloquially known as a 'bus', so I do believe we have long crossed the Rubicon."

Marinette whipped her hand in a theatrical twirl to her mouth, mostly to cover her growing smile but partly as part of the act, lowering her head as she countered his point. "Ah but my good sir, there is no place from which there is no redemption; you offer efficiency as a measure of our responsibility, and I argue, walking is the cheapest, healthiest, and therefore most efficient means of travel, and thus we are maintaining our responsibility. Thusly, we have to go to the lake, lest we waste this opportunity to appreciate our surroundings while taking advantage of our efficient means of travel."

Cat was sincerely shocked. As Adrien or his superhero alter ego, he had never heard Marinette say so many words in a row without stuttering, and so many bigger words too. He was impressed, but not nearly as impressed as Marinette was with herself, her hand covering her triumphant grin.

"Fair argument madam, but... your reasoning is as fluid as your desires. With how you argued, you leave yourself free to argue any point with any amount of stretching, and therefore, no matter where your starting point is, you'll always end up where you want to be."

Unsure of his meaning, she glanced up to the boy. "Huh?"

He laughed. "What I mean is, you set up a conundrum about deciding to be either an adult or a rebellious teenager, but then proceeded to argue that doing what we want to do is the adult thing to do anyway, making the entire conflict pointless and problem-less."

Her posture straightened out and she put her hands back in her pockets. A playful shrug accompanied a tilted smile. "But it was fun to talk about, wasn't it?"

A nod. "You're not wrong Princess."

Before long, Cat had lead them down a couple turns in the road and they stepped out from the shadow of the trees and into the arena of the lake. Manicured lawns lead their attention to a wooden sign.

"Pond of Armainvilliers," read the boy out loud. "So green."

"Close enough," she said through a one-eyed yawn.

They walked along the path laid to the curvature of the large pond, admiring the light ripples forming across the surface of the otherwise still water. Along the way, Cat Noir lived up to the name of his animal and walked precariously along the backing of every bench they passed. When a rickety bit of water-rotten planks stuck out from the edge of the water in towards the middle, he couldn't pass up the chance to dance with his chances.

Watching him frolic off, Marinette took a panoramic look of the park. "Sigh," she said heavily.

"Look out Princess, you say 'sigh' instead of sighing once and you'll find yourself on a slippery slope of improper speech."

"You're one to talk Cat Noir, you're the one about to fall into some cold water." He tiptoed along one of the planks as she spoke, arms outstretched like an acrobat. He shot her a cocky grin.

"Skill and precision are an artist's tools against mistake."

"Whatever you say Cat Noir, you're the superhero." Marinette hid her smirk and Cat Noir hid his. Continuing, she explained herself. "Anyway, I'm just surprised that we don't come out here more often."

"Are you asking me out on future dates, Marinette?" he asked salaciously.

She threw her head back. "Ugh! No Cat Noir! Heh heh, no, I mean... me, my classmates, my family, it would be easy to come out here more often, get away from the noise of the city a little bit, breathe this fresh air just a little more often."

"Then you should do it," he remarked. "Next time you get the chance, ask your friends if they want to go out of the city just a little bit."

 _But then I wouldn't get to invite you._

But the thought was too embarrassing to admit to the already arrogant boy. She argued instead, "I don't think everyone's parents would be too comfortable with their kids going out into the boonies to get into new sorts of mischief."

Adrien could relate all too well. "Maybe you could get your parents to come along and ease the nerves of everyone else's parents."

 _Then maybe you can invite me along._

Even though, against his hopes, he knew his father would still not approve. He could dream though.

Marinette conceded with a enthusiastic shift of her stance. "Well maybe that would work. It's not a bad idea."

"Thank you," he said, "just remember that next time you come out here, bring—"

The plank he was currently tiptoeing on snapped in half and he fell sideways into the water. It was only shin deep, but he landed on his back, submerging his whole body into the icy pond. Marinette's head snapped to the sound of the splash just in time to see him stagger to his feet, an obvious shiver taking hold of his body.

She bit on her finger to hold the laughter in as he dashed out of the pond, shaking his head like a dog all the while, whipping water in every direction. "Is it true what they say about cats, do they really not like water?" she asked smugly.

He looked unsteadily to her. Then smiled. "Oh I'd say people and cats have about the same reaction." Cat Noir took several steps closer to her. "How about I throw you in, then you'll know."

Marinette's smug face turned sour, then fearful. She shook her head as he made his way closer to her. "No no no no no no, I'm sorry, Cat, we can talk about this, you don't have to do this!" As he got within arms reach, she tucked her head in and flailed her arms at him, squealing "No!" as she danced backwards. When nothing happened, she looked around and saw the boy sprinting off in the distance behind her.

"It's so cold!" he shouted across the park to her.

"What are you doing?" she laughed, taking a deep sigh followed by a yawn.

"Drying off!"

"Huh, that works I guess."

She only watched for a moment before she turned her attention to herself. Marinette was no stranger to running around on a daily basis, but hours of walking was starting to wear on her. Taking advantage of the park's benches, she plotted herself down and let her arms fall behind the seat backing. Head tilting back, she gazed at the cloud patched stars in between long blinks. A yawn. The clinical passage of time by seconds eased into a vague passage of moments, and the rustle of the woods under the weight of winds ebbed out of clarity on the ears and into muffled sensations throughout her body. She began to wonder how late it actually was, and wondered how her parents might be reacting to her disappearance. Maybe they haven't been checking in on her room, and maybe they don't realize she's even gone. That would be best, because at least then they wouldn't be worried about where she was. Maybe it was the sleepiness talking, but Marinette felt that it would work out anyhow anyway, and lost interest in being concerned.

"Are you asleep?" Cat Noir asked as softly as one can through clattering teeth. The sentiment touched her nonetheless.

Her body jolted to consciousness, everything suddenly feeling more visceral again. Pulling forward, she rubbed her eyes. "I guess so, yeah," she cleared her throat. "Are you dry now?"

He took the spot beside her on the bench. "Mostly, but still very cold. Can I..." he sheepishly hesitated, "Can I borrow your jacket for a moment?" A weak black clad finger pointed to her sleeve.

She looked to the shivering boy, then touched her own cheek. Sure enough, she was still cold too. Then she unzipped and undid the duffel cords on her long coat, playing with how large it was on her. A yawn. "Better yet, just take the left side, I'll take the right side."

Marinette pulled her left arm out of its sleeve and pulled it over the shoulder of Cat Noir, who gratefully scooted in till they were shoulder to shoulder. Where their arms met he felt a rush of warmth that ran counter to her chilled reception, but soon enough the feeling evened out so that she didn't want to pull away. The coat covered the both of them, but the front couldn't zip up around their combined width.

"Thank you, this is way better," he said.

"Anytime." Arms folded inside the coat, she tucked her head just inside the collar and blew warm breath into their shared space. He chuckled in response. "Don't make fun of me," she giggled in turn.

"Don't worry, I wasn't making fun of you." He found it adorable, but couldn't find the courage to say so.

She yawned, during which she said, "Alright."

"You must be pretty tired at this point, I would imagine as much with–"

"Ssssshhhh Cat," she whispered, raising a finger to her lips. "You don't always have to say something. Sometimes just being there is enough..."

Many snappy comebacks and jovial indignations sprung to mind, making the obvious joke that she must've thought he was only a pretty face to be seen and not heard would've been easy, yet the implication in the latter statement gave him pause. She had not been mean when she spoke, but hinted at something more appreciative. Suddenly, it was all he could think about.

But respecting her wish for silence, he obliged.

Before long, she yawned once more and turned to her left towards Cat. Lifting her legs over his, she pulled her knees up to her chin and hugged her shins. Her jaw sat on her knees but the side of her head fell onto his shoulder, then she whispered, "You can zip it up now..."

She had folded herself enough into his space that he could slip into both sleeves and hook the zipper, raising the brass clip up enough to cover the base of her neck, closing them off from the biting cold. Suddenly, he felt too warm.

Drawing his arms back in, he reached to hold her, to hug her, he wanted to at least, so badly, but couldn't work up the nerve to push that line. He smiled silently to himself. A girl from his class that he found himself particularly attracted towards in some measure was curled up in a ball in his lap and the heat coming off of her was like nothing he'd ever experience, every breath she took, oh so close that he could hear each draw and exhale so intimately, the slow rise of her chest and the rhythmic fall of her frame, the pulse in her chest that only in this moment he could feel, all of this Marinette he was holding in the space between his head and his knees and yet still he felt that hugging the girl was pushing the line. Adrien cursed his more gentle side as he ended up just letting his arms hang at his sides.

Eventually, his ears twitched violently as her breath caught in a stutter for one last sigh, then the rigidity in her body melted away completely. He knew she was now well asleep, and it was his heart's turn to melt.

Marinette fell away into incoherent thoughts of sunlit alabaster and butterfly garnished flower gardens, a scene of her at a cafe with Alya and Nino, crowds, Paris, and excited conversations between her and a blond boy over a bridge railing. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts that lead to her bed, which obviously and inconspicuously transformed into a boat on the river through Paris, and the rocking of the boat, while comforting and fun, jostled her to a dark and blurry consciousness. She wondered why she was on a boat, and why there was a blob of yellow above her, and why there were so many trees in the city.

Soon, Marinette realized that Cat Noir was carrying her down the road. She was wrapped up tight in the jacket and he held her bridal style, her head resting against his upper arm. A sigh preceded an ashamed exhale. "Thank you." She closed her eyes, but remained at attention, mostly.

"Why the sigh?" he asked.

She ran her head side to side, in part to nestle her cheek into a more comfortable position, and part to gesture to general weariness. "It's my fault we're in this situation. I wasn't careful."

His doubtful expression contended her worries, though it went unseen by her. "It was my pleasure to help. Anything for our neighborhood Ladybug." Blood rushed to his cheeks and behind his ears. It occurred to him that perhaps he said too much, that maybe reciting something he said as Adrien was a poor move.

Fortunately for the boy, she giggled. "That means a lot to me, you comparing me to her, even though she's Ladybug and I'm... me," she referred to herself dismissively. "Funny enough, you're not the first to say that."

Cat Noir suppressed a nervous chuckle. A ping of guilt hit him for having to hide the truth from her. "Good. I shouldn't be. I know enough from word of mouth to know that you spend a good deal of time helping people. It's not fighting villains, but its noble and desperately needed none-the-less." He had gotten excited, and had to stop to breathe. Slower, he continued, "I'd say you deserve acknowledgment every now and again."

It was similar to what he said the first time, but he could only hope that saying it as one of the superheroes of Paris made it worth it this time.

 _All I know is, I wish you'd kiss me this time too._

Her hand subtly crawled to her blushing face, fingers splaying out over her eyes and her palm cupping her cheek. As Ladybug, praise came to her as often as sunny days in the desert, but aside from her parents and her girlfriends who made a point of supporting each other, but as Marinette, praise always sounded shallow. Cat's words sounded sincere, passion lingering behind them. His words scrambled her brain in a new special kind of way.

 _All I know is, I wish he'd stop before I end up doing something I'll regret._

"Heh heh, huh, uh..." she mumbled, "neighborhood Ladybug though? So like, I'm the Spiderman to Ladybug's Ironman?"

He bit his lip. "Uhm... no, because Ladybug is like Spider... huh..." he thought on it more than he thought he would have to. "Actually, yeah, in a way. Because, Spiderman is the down to earth, smaller scale, young hero where as Iron..."

"Ironman is a member of the team, saves the world, older, higher stakes, yeah," she ended on a high note. Not letting the yawning or return of drowsiness stop her, she trucked on. "Ironman's got the cool suit, and the money, and the super hot secretary wife, but ol' Spiderman is really just spider-boy, and he's got an old aunt he needs to take care of, and bullies at school, and an uncle who refuses to not get shot by an ever expanding list of... people who didn't want to become villains but were forced to because of some misfired experiment..." she rambled in the truest sense of the word, "and I always wondered about that, why was it that every villain in Spiderman was some poor guy who got caught up in some honest mistake and had their psyche damaged? Isn't that ironically like, exactly what happens to all the akumatized victims? And Hawkmoth is like, the weekly writer that comes up with new ways to mess over some aspiring schmuck? Or how about how Peter Parker never gets the girl, or gets her killed in some way. Am I doomed to never get the girl?"

Cat Noir chewed his tongue through pursed lips, trying his hardest to suppress his laughter.. "It's possible."

The rambling got more sleep talk like and less coherent. "Is the, tsk, are the comics of Spiderman really just a divine tragedy of a mortal raised to the height of an angel only to fall forever from grace as punishment for his happenstance aspirations? Is Spider Man's suit red as a reference to Lucifer and his fall from grace, punished to act as a dark Shepard to humanity? Is Spiderman the devil, shepherding criminals and unfortunate scientists back to righteousness, only for them to... to... not? Like, Spiderman is doomed to fight crime forever, and the police and media hate him for... being... outside the law? Like, the devil has to take the sinners, so like... and no one likes him so... is Spiderman the devil?"

He cleared his throat. "I think you're reaching, but the similarities are something alright."

"I mean, no one does things thinking they're evil, and the comics were a fan of that. The bad guy always had a reason. I mean... not always great reasons but.. do you think maybe Hawkmoth has a reason he's doing it?"

The boy sighed. "I can only hope... he doesn't, because... if he had a good reason, it would make stopping him... not so simple, and it would hurt to know what drove him to do what he has."

She seemed to ignore him, and kept on. "...And Mary Jane has no right... being so annoying... like, her acting career was never going to take off, she should've like... gotten a real job and gotten with Peter, just because Harry had money was no good reason to ignore the guy who gave up everything for her, like, she dated the bully because she's just that vapid... Gwen was perfect, but that panel where he kills her by accident... like, he was bragging about his powers a moment after he killed her, he didn't know, it took him like, a whole minute to realize what happened..." her nose started sniffling, "oh it gets me every time, poor Peter... he didn't mean it, he was only trying to save her, and to go from thinking he saved his love only to hold her lifeless body..." and like that Marinette started softly crying.

Adrien shook his head, first up and down in agreement to how sad the story was, then side to side by how quickly sleepy Marinette had cornered herself into sad thoughts about a fictional character. He rocked her in his arms as he hushed her. "There there Princess, it's alright. I'm sure Peter Parker got his happy ending... eventually... in some alternate... timeline." Suddenly, Cat Noir was sad.

The girl diligently returned to her sleepy rambling, referencing nothing of import anymore as the rambling turned to hushed muttering that turned into broken whispers before once again, she faded away.

When she came to again, she was sitting on the cushioned inside seat of a red bus en route to the big city. Rubbing her eyes, she turned to her traveling partner to her left, shoulder to shoulder with her again. Yawning and stretching, she eventually asked, "Did I say anything too stupid?"

Cat laughed. "No actually, you were quite insightful. I never realized you could jump cancel out of the sonic low slide recovery lag if you prefaced the attack with a low guard."

She stared blankly through half lidded eyes at the boy for moment before his words processed. "Oh! Wow... how'd I get from Spiderman to there?" Marinette rubbed the back of her head against the gray and purple tall seats as she cleared her throat. "Actually, never mind, you play that game enough to know what that means?"

He smiled coyly. "I never said I knew what it means, I just heard you say it."

Marinette scoffed. "One does not hear a nonsensical string of words like that and remembers it perfectly unless they know exactly what those nonsensical strings of words entail, sir."

With hands in the air, "You caught me," he confessed. "Now, I hate to ask, but..." She found herself plenty surprised at the way he fidgeted just then, his regular confidence gone. "Could you keep an eye out while I take a quick nap? Our tickets are paid all the way to near where you live, so just in case I don't wake up by then... wake me?"

A giggle. "Go ahead kitty, I won't mug you while you sleep."

A smile and a 'thank you'. Without much fanfare, Cat Noir straightened his back and tilted his head into the seat, neck long and stretched out. Like that, she could tell he was on his way out and soon asleep. She guiltily had hoped he would lean her way, maybe rest against her like he had let her do for him, but it was clear he was not accustomed to asking for things. Just asking for a rest seemed to disturb him somehow. Then again, he was a superhero taking a nap on a public bus late into the night, maybe just the fact that he was relying on Marinette to keep them both safe was a justifiable cause for concern. The irony of the entire thought tickled her mind.

And tickled her mind was, as she leaned into the window, face still locked in the direction of her partner, gaze heavy on his visage. She had without a doubt had a long night with many stops and conversations and if food was for thought, she had a buffet to work with. She started at the beginning and worked her way through the rough mile they had, the screaming, the clothes, the ice cream, then all the back and forth banter, all the fun she had... but as people are tend to do, she soon fixated on her mistakes, the things she wish she had said differently, the awkward pauses, any stutters, any times she had missed out on saying something she wished she could've said.

And as people are tend to do, she fixated on things he said, what he meant, did she misinterpret anything, what he was hiding the same as she was. The looks of sadness she had seen. A long bus ride gave her a lot of time to mull over every detail under the magnifying glass of her contemplative mind.

"Alright kitty, time to wake up," she nudged him. City street lights illuminated them with a steady pace, and the bus stop was coming up soon. She told him as much.

Both of them enjoyed some light stretching before getting up. The bus came to a gradual halt and they began their trek down the aisle, Marinette now seeing the other passengers for the first time. Older men and women who she had to guess were without cars or family members to drive them, sleepy and beaten looking, but whose faces lit up as they got to see Cat Noir greet each of them politely as he passed. Only a middle-aged man in a business suit who spoke tersely on the phone seemed to not notice them.

They nodded their thanks to the lady bus driver and stepped off, and both were encompassed with the sense of knowing and familiarity as to where they were, a feeling they took for granted before tonight. As the bus pulled away and the girl and boy were left alone once more, now in the streets of Paris, Marinette looked pensively into the boy's eyes.

He could only guess her thoughts, but it seemed like she had something to say. He knew for sure he was getting hot under his collar again however, her intense stare growing ever more nerve wracking as he waited for some sign, but got none.

Breaking the heavy silence, he whispered even when there was no real reason to do so, "Here, I'll walk you home." Her head tilted inquisitively. He shrugged non nonchalantly. "I've brought you this far, gotta finish the job."

And in silence they walked, the trip to her parent's bakery only about fifteen minutes at the most, but it felt like forever. Marinette walked with her head down, and though he couldn't directly see where she was looking, he could tell she kept peeking over to look at his feet. He glanced down himself to see if he had stepped in anything, yet he found nothing.

"Are you alright?" he asked a block away from the bakery entrance.

She twitched with her whole body, the boy's words breaking her from her thoughts. "Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm good."

At the door, they both stopped, only a foot of distance between them at the most. The girl turned to face her friend, a sad smile lingering under tired eyes. He returned the hesitant smile, saying, "And so our journey comes to an end, Princess."

She chuckled softly as she nodded. "Yes, thank you. I would've been stuck out there for a while without you... and I had fun."

Adrien became aware of how fast his heart was beating; her face, her expression, so personal, so close. He was not aware her heart pounded the same.

"No, thank you."

A long, tense moment passed, gazes held on the other. It was the boy who backed down, turning and walking off the street curb. "I expect to see you again soon, Marinette, so I bid you ad-"

"Noir," she spoke cooly, cutting him off. He stopped in his tracks, and turned to face her sideways, head craned.

"Yes?" His voice was expectant, excited.

Marinette tip toed away from her door, a heavy hand running through her hair back to behind her neck, the motion drawing an inaudible gasp from the boy. She stood on the curb, looking ever so slightly down at his green eyes, just out of arm's reach. She sighed.

"I don't know exactly how to say this, and this probably will sound like it's coming out of nowhere, but I need to say it..." He held his breath, she cupped her face to hide for a moment. Showing herself once more, she began apprehensively speaking in hushed tones.

"I've gotten the feeling several times before Cat, that... you don't think as much of yourself as you want to, and in a way, you're lonely. I know you've caught flak before for not being Ladybug, pfft, you catch a lot of flak from Ladybug, and clearly you have some issues at home... and I can't help you with that. There's something eating away at you and me telling you how important you are as a hero probably won't do any good."

He looked away, smile gone. He held a stiff paw to his pained chest. He didn't want to hear anymore, he didn't want the nice night they had to end on such a depressing note. But when she started speaking again, this time, kinder, more compassionate, he refused to look away from her.

"But... you may feel lonely, Cat Noir, but... If under the mask you are a quarter as good of a man as you are with it, there's no way your friends and family could feel anything less than love towards you, and if you went away, you would be missed." Her voice broke, "I would miss you."

The boy looked away again. He laughed half heartedly, the sound fading out but his frame remained in motion. He crossed his arms and held his elbow with one hand and held his chin with the other, a few fingers itching at the area around his eye.

She stepped forward, cautiously, and ran her hand through his still slightly damp hair. Tussling it, she heard him chuckle. As he glanced over his shoulder towards her, she caught a glimpse of tears sitting on the outside of his mask.

"I wanted you to know."

"Thank you."

The bakery door behind them opened up and spilled light out into the street, Sabine and Tom bursting out to search for the voices they heard. Spotting their daughter, they rushed her to hug her with all their might.

The following day at school was interesting, to say the least. Marinette couldn't make it to the school entrance without everyone giving her salacious snickers as they greeted her. Quickly becoming self conscious, she dashed for her classroom and her corresponding seat, Alya already waiting for her.

"Girl! Tell me everything!" the brunette almost shouted, slamming the desk.

"What!?" Marinette responded in exasperation, "What could I possibly tell you about!?" She knew the answer, but she could feign ignorance, at least for a second.

Alya laughed, hard. "I've had to make a new folder dedicated to videos of you and Cat Noir's escapades last night!"

"Wait, what's on these videos?" She hadn't actually thought about it, but it made sense. Over several hours, someone was bound to take a picture.

Giddy as a kid on christmas, Alya pulled out her phone and flicked through a dozen thumbnails to videos that had made their way online. Marinette watched in horror as she could pinpoint the time of night from each still picture, from their shouting match where she said things she really shouldn't have, Cat Noir cleaning her feet, them watching the werewolf movie, him carrying her onto the bus, to apparently a perspective that could've only meant there was a guy sitting behind them on the bus and they had gotten a bird's eye view of them talking.

"So," she laid her phone in her lap and leaned on the desk towards Marinette. "Tell me what happened. And no skipping out on the juicy bits."

Sighing loudly, the black haired girl didn't notice as Adrien entered the classroom, the boy glancing affectionately in her direction. He took his seat in front of her and leaned back and listened in as she recounted their tale all the way to the end of the previous night.

"...my parents had to tell the police that I wasn't missing anymore, but they had only been missing me for half an hour, but anyway, they thanked Cat Noir and offered him to join us for dinner, and he... joined us. We all talked for awhile while we ate and eventually he went on his way."

Alya blinked twice. "So... no... kissing happened then?" Her friend nodded. "That's... severely disappointing. Still, how does it feel then, the fact that you WENT ON A FREAKING DATE WITH CAT NOIR!"

"Aagh! Shut up!" she shouted in embarrassment, the rest of the class that was so far present giggling as Marinette planted her head into her desk to hide from the world. Adrien leaned forward with a smug self contentment.

By the time Marinette got home, she was ready to cool off in her room from a long day of teasing and askance looks. Alya had immense fun taking pictures with Marinette and Cat Noir in frame and editing in hand drawn, rough edged, red hearts around them and showing them to the emotionally exhausted girl. At least out of everyone, Adrien had kept to himself and Nino just wanted her to get his action music mixtape to Cat Noir for listening. She promised to do as much.

Night came early as expected of autumn, but instead of doing her homework, the girl had the long jacket from the 'date' on and stood in front of her mirror, contemplating possible modifications she could make to advertise her style for the near future. Such an expensive coat deserved to be worn after all, but with all the videos of her in it online and trending, it might just be this jacket that would warrant endless unwanted attention. She considered dying it black.

"I think you're over reacting," confided Tikki, whom made it clear she heard and saw every last thing the two superheroes said and did to each other, "So what if people think the two of you are dating, would that be so bad?"

"Yes! Tikki, if we're not together, giving false impressions is..." she scoffed, "Well it's just wrong. Besides, what would Adrien think then? I really wouldn't have a chance once he thought I was with Cat."

The little red deity pouted. "Maybe you should consider Cat Noir more. I have seen interactions with thousands of people in my time and I can personally say that you two bonded, Marinette. You have a connection with Cat Noir and I think chasing Adrien with little success is just hurting you and gives Cat no chance."

The seamstress gawked at her tiny partner. "Why are you pushing this thing so much? You know how I feel about the both of them but if I had to guess, it seems like you really want me with Cat Noir. What's gotten into you Tikki?"

Tikki had to internally scream. Knowing the identity of Cat Noir and listening to Marinette's incessant insistence on ignoring the events of last night and avoiding the thought tore the little being apart. Only patience learned through millennia of experience let her keep her state of mind even.

Just then, the rapping sound of knuckles on wood reverberated from above her bed. She knew it could've been one of two possibilities, one being an akuma was out for her blood for some reason, or the other being there was a stray cat looking for attention.

A red flash flew into Marinette's pocket as she climbed on her bed to open her balcony hatch, and lo and behold, a familiar black clad figure crouched before her. She looked him in the eyes, looked around, then said, "Hmm, dang cats always knocking on my door, I should really call the pound services." Closing the hatch on him and disappearing back into her room, she left a hurt and confused looking Cat Noir all alone.

"Wha..."

The hatch flipped back open and the girl popped out, smug expression beaming at the boy. "I'm just teasing you kitty. What's the occasion for the visit?"

Adrien put his palm to his face, chuckling. "Ah you got me again," he sighed as he took a excited crouch again. "I wanted to show you something, if you're willing of course."

She leaned on her elbows towards him with curiosity written on her face. "You wanted to show me something? Really?"

He rolled his shoulders in a playful shrug, confessing, "Kind of, I kind of wanted to see something myself, but only if you came along."

Observing her room, she considered her options, and was initially leaning towards turning down the offer, but when she looked back to him, her heartbeat picked up, and his soft smile defeated any chance of saying no. "Alright," she laughed, "But let me get ready first. I'll be out in fifteen minutes."

Back in her room, she threw off the jacket and got back into her regular day clothes. Not wanting a repeat of last time, she brought her purse with all she needed in the case of an emergency, mostly sweets. Before she was ready to go, Marinette stood in the center of her room deciding whether she wanted to brush her teeth or not, knowing that if she did, that was a submission to Tikki's request and the implications there after, but if she didn't that would be a shirk to her respect of Cat Noir and if something did happen, it would be less than ideal. Starting to panic and Tikki giving her the stink eye, Marinette compromised and rinsed her mouth out as a mediocre middle ground.

Meeting on her balcony with the leather suited boy, both children awkwardly waved at each other, though neither could figure why either of them did so. "Are you ready to go," he said, then cleared his throat. "I will have to uh... carry you." Marinette noticed how he nervously tapped one of his feet behind the other, the steel tipped shoe ticking against the roof floor.

Giving her own nervous giggle, she said, "I'm good to go and... yeah, that's fine. It wouldn't be the first or second, or even third time you've carried me at this point."

Stepping forward, he reached out with one hand but wagged a finger on the other. "Okay, but you gotta close your eyes."

"Okay, I trust you." She followed his instruction, and felt the weight in her feet disappear as her body went horizontal.

"Here goes," he warned her. She could hear the smirk on his lips.

Wind raced passed her as the sensation of ascension took over her body, followed by a steady pace of free falling. As Ladybug, she was all too familiar with the feeling, but being in the passenger seat and blind bred a new form of elation. It was a feeling she could get use to.

Within a couple minutes, her feet clattered against metal grating, and a consistent breeze whistled it's way past some sort of framework. Marinette instantly knew where Cat had taken her.

"You took that extremely well," he commented, "But anyway you can look now."

Sure enough, her guess was right, and they stood atop the middle platform of the Eiffel Tower. Taking in the environment, it seemed they were the only ones there. She slowly stepped over to the railing, taking a spot just next to one of the telescopes, and gazed over the Parisian night lights that made the city glow.

"No matter how many times I see it, it's always beautiful," she breathed more than spoke. Holding onto the bar and leaning back, she smiled towards the boy, who walked around the telescope to stand adjacent to her. "I'll give that to you Cat Noir, but is this what you wanted me to see?"

Leaning against the railing himself, he nodded. "More or less," he responded cooly.

She nodded in return. "Okay, then what did you want to see?"

Cat Noir scratched his chin as one rubs their beard, his eyes darted to the side, but slid back to focus on Marinette, their eyes locking. She gulped as she was reminded of an animal getting caught in the sights of a hunter. "I wanted to see your eyes in their true color."

The girl froze and started sweating all at once.

"The lights of the tower, the city, the moon, I'm not seeing green now, I'm seeing them for what they are, and though I can't see the grass dancing in them this time... I can see embers of orange, red, and gold sparkling against the blue backdrop, and if I look a little harder... I can see that spark of soul that makes Marinette Marinette. And to me, that's beautiful."

If jelly could melt like butter, Marinette would be jelly under a heat lamp while on an unsteady table. Body parts ceased to respond normally and she was left staring at him with pursed, expectant lips and wide, awe-struck eyes. A minute passed, the blush in her cheek strong and a bead of sweat visible on his own brow.

"I... I don't know what to say, except that you make it very hard, Cat Noir," she finally spoke, voice shaky. She turned in place and leaned her back into the railing, and held her hands together at her belly, her line of sight meeting with the ground.

"I feel as though I might know what you mean." Moving closer, he planted a foot into the lower part of the bars and leaned onto his knee. Now they were shoulder to shoulder, but facing opposite directions. He sighed. "I still remember that night on your balcony. I know you like someone else, and you know how I feel about Ladybug, but... a little voice inside my head told me that, if I just keep chasing someone who doesn't reciprocate, I'll just end up hurting myself and I might miss something else just as incredible. Usually the voice isn't that helpful, but you know..."

She giggled. She considered that perhaps his kwami told him what Tikki told her. "Oh I know it well."

"I don't know if it's right, or even okay, to give up... on Ladybug I mean. In a way, I feel like I'm betraying her-"

"By turning your attention to me?" she asked. He nodded. While her and Ladybug were the same person, she understood the situation from his perspective. He wasn't confessing affection to another side of the same person, he was admitting that either his love for one girl was misplaced or that he was moving down the totem pole to find someone else. Marinette was a third party to the equation that primarily consisted of Cat Noir and Ladybug. In other words, she was the rebound target of herself.

On the other hand, she felt even worse about herself. Two days ago, she was infatuated with Adrien Agreste, but was now recognizing that same heart flutter in a boy she had put down many times, repeatedly, and like him, would have to attempt to abandon her original love to make room, or long for another man while in the presence of Cat Noir. Either way felt dirty to her, and wrong. It didn't feel good.

If they got together, if he eventually found out she was Ladybug, she would have to explain why she rejected him so many times only to force him to settle for Marinette.

For Adrien, he knew that if she eventually found out both his identities, he would have to explain why he never approached her in civilian form, forcing them to know each other in a limited capacity, and forcing himself as Adrien to act indifferent to her until she learned his secret.

The truth though is worse, their situations combined. Of course neither were privy to that.

"We're in the same boat kitty," she lamented. He nodded. "I can see leaks, but," she turned to him, and grabbed his hand. "I'd be honored to row this boat with you." She grabbed it with both hands and squeezed affectionately, smiling all the while to him.

"No need to be so doom and gloom, Princess," Cat laughed. The boy mirrored her gestured, and stepped in closer to her, till their noses were inches apart. "Sometimes... we find miraculous things where we don't expect them."

Marinette giggled and shook her head. "That's so cheesy, I might just develop lactose intolerance." She looked up to him, and suddenly her previous worries seemed less dire, though still lingering.

He looked down at her, the space between them shrinking. "That's okay. I like cheese, I'll have whatever you're not having."

"Good, because I live in a bakery, I already have to watch my weight as it is."

"Same, I would hate to appear on national television with muffin top."

"I've noticed you have a thing for food kitty, is there something I should know?"

"Nothing other than I'll die if I don't eat."

"How informative."

"Marinette?" He now whispered.

"Yes?" She whispered back.

"Would you have me as your second love, and you as mine?" He fought hard as to not beg but merely ask.

"Does that entail dating?"

A chuckle. "Well I don't know what exactly qualifies as dating, but sure."

"Dinners, walks, watching movies, build-a-bear workshops..."

"Well actually, I've always wanted to make one with rainbow colored fur and two hearts in it so it has room for extra love."

Marinette started off with snorting and finished with cackling into the boy's chest.

Cat Noir began breaking into laughter too as he said, "You act like I said something weird, or something."

"Yes," she choked out, "Here." Pulling away, she reached for his face and put each palm to each cheek, then pulled him lower. She put a tender kiss on his nose, the blush visible in each of their faces.

"Heh," he muttered, rubbing at the back of his head, eyes darting around abashedly. "So are you doing anything tonight?"

She sighed. "I am actually." His disappointment was overt. "I'm getting taken out to dinner by a superhero, maybe you've heard of him."

"You're getting even better at that," he laughed, "I will get you back for it. Where to my lady?"

"Well kitty, that's a fair question. How do you feel about walking around?"

-End "The Second's Lament"-


End file.
